Cantor Sees Growing, Warranted Frustration After ‘Mobs’ Remark

Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- House Majority Leader Eric Cantor,
who described anti-Wall Street demonstrators as “growing mobs”
earlier this month, said today the increasing frustration in the
U.S. is warranted.

Cantor, in an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” also
predicted that the congressional supercommittee will be
successful in its goal of cutting “at least” $1.2 trillion
from the deficit.

“There is a growing frustration out there across this
country, and it’s warranted,” the Virginia Republican responded
when asked about his “mobs” remark made on Oct. 7. “Too many
people are out of work.”

U.S. lawmakers, facing a 9.1 percent unemployment rate and
a stagnant recovery from the 2008 financial crisis, are split on
what is needed to spur economic growth and recovery. Republicans
have pushed for a reduction in federal regulation, the corporate
and individual rates and “significant spending cuts.”
President Barack Obama countered with his $447 billion jobs
proposal, aimed at boosting the economy through infrastructure
spending, subsidies to local governments and cutting payroll
taxes.

“Where I’m most concerned, is we have elected leaders in
this town who frankly are joining in an effort to blame others
rather than focusing on the policies that have brought about the
current situation,” Cantor said of the anti-Wall Street
protests.

Cantor said that “there has to be success” in the
supercommittee’s deficit-reduction efforts.

President Obama

Obama has been unable to get lawmakers to sign onto his
$447 billion jobs package and has placed the blame on
Republicans for lacking a plan and putting a halt to progress.
Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, disputed that view in
a personal call to Obama, saying that he wanted to make sure
Obama “had all of the facts,” according to a readout of the
call provided by Boehner’s office.

The U.S. Senate shelved Obama’s plan on Oct. 11 when it
fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance the proposal.
Lawmakers and the White House said after the vote that they
would begin looking for pieces of the White House plan that are
amenable to both parties, and then hold separate votes on those
parts.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Phil Mattingly in Washington at
pmattingly@bloomberg.net.
Kevin Costelloe in Washington at